Julien Moutte: The Tech Leader Breaking Down Barriers to Build a Better World

• 9 March 2026
• Construction Focus
• 323 Views

Julien Moutte, the Chief Technology Officer of Bentley Systems, lives by a simple philosophy: removing barriers is the best way to move forward. Unlike many top executives, you won’t find him in a private corner office. Instead, he sits at a plain wooden desk in the middle of an open-plan floor, surrounded by his team of developers. He believes that being visible and accessible is the only way to create true clarity and trust within a company.

This fascination with “opening” things started when he was a teenager. After receiving his first computer for Christmas, he quickly moved past playing games to learn how the machine actually worked. Later, he famously “cracked open” a high-end scientific calculator to write custom code directly into its brain, unlocking features the manufacturer never intended users to find. This early curiosity taught him that systems improve when people can see inside them and share what they find.

Today, Moutte applies this “open source” mindset to the massive world of infrastructure. He argues that data for roads, bridges, and flood sensors shouldn’t be trapped in closed, private systems. Because a bridge might last for 100 years, the digital information used to build and monitor it must remain accessible to future generations through open standards. He believes that technology should always serve the citizens first, helping cities become more resilient against challenges like flooding.

For Moutte, leadership is about giving before you receive. Whether he is sharing complex software code with the global community or sharing his favorite sourdough bread starter with a colleague, his goal remains the same: transparency. By keeping his office door—and his software—open, he is ensuring that the invisible technology running our cities stays connected, efficient, and ready for the future.

• Knowledge and Key Success
• Bentley
• Bentley Systems
• leadership